Man survives after he was ejected in collision with train

GOOSE CREEK — A train smashed into a Jeep that was stopped on a railroad tracks late Saturday, ejecting the driver and mangling his vehicle.

Four vehicles were wrecked in the collision that sent the driver and three others to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, according to an incident report released Monday.

The driver of the Jeep, John Arthell Davis, 40, of Indigo Road in Goose Creek, is charged with stopping on a railroad crossing, according to an incident report released on Monday.

It was the first of two train vs. car collisions this weekend and the second involving a train and a car stopped at the intersection of U.S. Highway 52 and Red Bank Road since May.

The crash occurred about 10:20 p.m.

Police say Davis had stopped on the tracks for a red light. Witnesses told police that a Toyota Highlander that was three spaces in front of Davis' Jeep didn't move when the light turned green, despite people behind him honking their horns. The driver of the Highlander is not charged.

Davis' Jeep was stopped about halfway across the tracks when the railroad lights started blinking and the arms came down. A woman stopped right behind the Highlander said she honked her horn repeatedly during the green light but the Highlander would not move.

She told police the train crushed the Jeep. She then saw the driver lying on the ground next to his mangled vehicle, according to the report.

The impact caused a chain reaction. The Jeep struck an Oldsmobile, causing major damage. The Oldsmobile then struck the woman's Ford Focus, which struck the Highlander. Damage to the Focus and Highlander were minor, according to the report.

Three passengers in those vehicles were taken to local hospitals to be evaluated.

Davis was taken to the Medical University Hospital for several lacerations. He told police he didn't remember anything about the crash and that he thought he had a passenger with him at the time of the collision. Police searched the area for another person but it was later determined that Davis had already dropped off his passenger and that person was safe.

The train was not damaged.

Authorities say the collision was the first of two this weekend.

A pickup truck was struck by a train this morning after it had been abandoned on the track hours earlier by a man who was fleeing from a state trooper, authorities said.

The trooper chased the pickup for about six minutes, losing sight of it near Mallard Road, Beres said.

The trooper looked for the pickup and was unable to find it until about 6 a.m., when a freight train collided with the pickup on railroad tracks near Orangeburg Road, Beres said.

To elude the trooper, the driver is thought to have turned onto the tracks on Mallard Road and driven the pickup about a mile up the tracks, toward Orangeburg Road, where he got out of the truck, took everything out of it and left it in the middle of the tracks, Beres said.

The driver has not been located yet, Beres said. The pickup truck had not been reported stolen.

Anyone with information about the incident should call the Highway Patrol’s Troop 6 office at 953-6010.